Looking after Yourself  


Don't expect to be able to do too much during the first few weeks following the birth. You'll probably want to concentrate on looking after your baby so you may wish to try to control the amount of visitors you have. If you avoid inviting anyone to the house you can control the times when you can be alone.

Here are some tips from new mothers on how to survive the early days

  • accept all offers of help with the housework, etc (ironing, cooking or shopping)
  • keep in touch with the people who make you feel good by 'phone (your best friend, mum, health visitor, etc)
  • take as many breaks as possible and don't feel guilty about it
  • sleep when your baby sleeps
  • eat regularly - pre-prepared foods save time and energy, but have some fresh fruit as well
  • look out for parent and toddler mornings (usually held in church halls) and other existing support networks.

Everyone is different, so find the solution that works for you. Every mum should rest and relax as much as possible, and try not to think about anything but herself and the baby.
Pacing yourself  
  Being a new mum is exhausting! Just bringing your baby home in the car can be stressful and exhausting enough. You may be so relieved, emotional and exhausted that you just want to go straight upstairs to sleep. Try to leave it a few days before inviting everyone over. The first time you go out for a walk with your baby in their pram, the outside world may make you feel vulnerable and exhausted. Take it easy for the first week or 2!
Exercises  
 

Warning

  • Start exercising very gently in the first few weeks after the birth
  • Never lie flat on your back and lift both legs in the air
  • Never lie flat on your back and do sit-ups with your feet held down.

Six weeks following the birth, when your GP has checked you and confirms that you are fully recovered, join a postnatal exercise class. It's a good way of making friends and keeping fit. Here are a few exercise that will help get you trim.

Leg slide
Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your hand in the small of your back, flat against the floor. Slide your legs slowly forwards as you breath out, bringing your knees closer to the ground. Then slide your legs up again.

Pelvic rock
Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. As you breathe out, rock your pelvis so the small of your back flattens onto the floor. Then rock your pelvis again so that your back is lifted off the floor.

Pelvic floor exercises

As soon as possible after delivery, start pelvic floor exercises. If you have stitches you will be sore, but it will improve your circulation and help your perineum heal. Even if you have had a Caesarean, you still need to do pelvic floor exercises.

  • Tighten the muscles around the vagina as if you were holding in a tampon or to stop from wetting yourself. Release after a count of 4. You should feel the difference when you let go
  • repeat the exercise in batches of six or eight whenever you get the chance during the day
  • As well as holding for a count of four, try squeeze, release, squeeze, release quite quickly.
  • breath normally throughout.
Your body postnatally  
  The female body recuperates amazingly quickly. Just minutes after the birth, the uterus (womb) changes from a "bag" with a capacity to hold 4.5 litres of water to a grapefruit-sized muscle and within six weeks, will have reduced in weight from 1000g to its pre-pregnant weight of around 50g. The vagina will gradually regain its former tone and the pelvic floor will return to its usual position. Tears to the neck of the womb, vagina and perineum usually heal quickly. Levels of the hormone progesterone will fall rapidly. Heartburn is swiftly relieved and constipation and varicose veins improve, although haemorrhoids (piles) generally take longer to resolve. It also takes time for the joints of the pelvis and spine to return to normal. The soft lining breaks down and is washed away in the lochia (the vaginal loss that lasts for a few weeks after giving birth). Heart, lungs and circulation return to normal. Back discomfort may persist for several months following delivery, so be careful with any lifting or carrying. The abdominal muscles, stretched to twice their normal length during pregnancy, will regain their tone within a month or 2. Getting back to pre-pregnancy weight takes time - the most rapid weight loss occurs in the first few days after delivery as an extra 2 - 8 litres of water carried during late pregnancy are passed out as urine. Weight loss then slows down, although if you breastfeed beyond six months, most mothers find that their weight naturally decreases.
Caring for stitches  
 

If you had an episiotomy (a surgical cut to enlarge the vaginal opening while giving birth) or a tear to your perineum (the area between vagina and anus), you will have some stitches to take care of. Make yourself more comfortable using the following tips

  • keep the perineum clean. Use a small jug to trickle warm water between your legs as you sit on the toilet after urinating (urinating while taking a bath or shower also reduces the pain!) Pat your perineum dry. Using a hairdryer is no longer recommended as excessive drying slows the healing process and blowing warm air over a wound can cause infection.
  • bathe as often as possible. Bathing in plain water is just as good as bathing in water to which salt or antiseptic has been added.
  • Adding a few drops of lavender oil to your bath can be very soothing.
  • change maternity pads frequently.
  • use high-waisted, cotton knickers or disposable briefs.
  • sit on something soft. Protect your pillow with a towel.
  • keep moving - getting out of bed and walking around as soon as you feel able helps thge circulation and reduces swelling.
  • pelvic floor exercises may be impossible to start with but in the medium term exercising the pelvic floor does seem to make things more comfortable.
  • consider taking arnica - many women feel that taking arnica tablets reduces bruising and stimulates healing.

If your perineum is really painful and these measures aren't helping, tell your midwife. Sometime stitching is done too tightly and the stitches have to be removed. Your midwife may also be able to offer you a local anaesthetic cream to use on the painful areas.